DS Lite self-repair?

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Have got a hold of my Sister's old DS Lite, she replaced it with DSi quite a while ago and it's just sat gathering dust since... I'll give her some cash and take it off her hands I think as I wouldn't mind playing the DS Zelda games.

There is a crack/damage in the main plastics near the hinge so the lid flaps about a bit, other than this it's working. A half line of black pixels on the top screen also, but it's not too intrusive...

I've bought replacement main plastics for the top section* and the required screwdriver for the 3 point screws, was just wondering how many people here had given repair a go themselves?
Is it simple enough? Any tips to make life easier?

Have looked at a couple of guides, it looks like it wont be that bad to dismantle/rebuild, just looking for opinions of others.



* in pink to match the rest of the DS, the manliest of colours...

 

[johnsparton10]

Try this. Ots a ver common problem with the ds, we get them in at work all the time. The main thing to think about when doing it is the order you did things in, can't go wrong then i guess

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Ugh, this was going alright (I think, nothing has been forced and the ribbon cable still seems fine).
However, upon re-assembling, it turns out there is a very slight difference between the old (damaged) bit of plastic and the new one.
The hinge is fine, was just the plastic that latches onto it that had cracked, however, the old metal collar/ring on the other side is bigger than the new plastic allows. There's a clear difference between the 2 parts, so I assume Nintendo moved onto a slightly smaller collar.
Wouldn't be an issue if I had a metal file but I didn't take it when I moved house. Doh!

An irritating hurdle!

Edit: Looking around it seems the older ones had a split in the collar to allow cables to be easily removed.
The one I have must be newer I assume as it is a complete circle. Ugh.